Tuesday, July 2, 2013

I'm still recovering from pneumonia (not fun, I assure you!), but I just have to write a short note to tell you that I feel something amazing in the air, ripples in the space-time continuum, awesome mojo from the universe. Women are waking up. Waking up to their power. Waking up to their voice.

Texas is only the beginning. Senator Wendy R. Davis and the women of Texas and the men who stand with them are pointing the way. The misogynistic laws Perry et al. intend to pass in Texas look just like laws being pushed and passed (sounds like a not-very-pleasant bodily function, doesn't it? how apt!) in states all over the country, including right here in Wisconsin. Women standing up to misogynists in power are sending a clear message: we're going to clean up this mess. We will no longer tolerate the intolerable.

I don't think, once we get going, that we'll be content to stop with restored reproductive freedom. There are plenty of other messes that need the attention of fierce, determined women and their allies willing to roll up their collective sleeves. The Supreme Court just made a huge mess of voting rights. Our environment is groaning under the weight of corporate greed. Wall Street is regulating Washington instead of the other way 'round. Big money has corrupted our government and shredded the democratic process. There's work to do, and we are the ones to do it. One inexorable step at a time.

There's a change in the air. Can you feel it? I swear I can smell it. It smells like spring, like a freshly cleaned house with all the windows open and a lovely spring breeze drifting through. We're done with misogyny. We're done with patriarchy. We're done with hate. We're done with political bullies. You've way overstepped your bounds, and we're putting you on notice. Get the hell out of the way. We are the ones we've been waiting for, and we're here to clean up the gigantic mess you've made.